Bifurcated garment



Aug. 15, 1950 E. SLATER BIFURCATED GARMENT Filed Sept. 27, 1947' IN V ENTOR. 5L ATE: R BY W :AITJ/Z VEY Patented Aug. 15, 1950 through theeretenan-a then ir eve' the-front or the garment to and includinga-pci high spt the n uter "waist. suchnigh p inrat the bab'k ot the waist ispreferably *as hiieh as the lower limit of the belt portion'r'of'thegamennand such point at the front of thewaist'is-aiso preferablyashighas the lower limit of the belt portion of the garment; but-sa-idbeltportion is uninterruptedlycontinuous across both said points.

The means for opening and closing the gar merit along said line ispreferably a single slide fastener which is not visible to the naked eyeand which contains a flap madeofthesame material attached directlyunderneath said zipper'on one side so thatimdergarments willnot catchher 'pre vent it'i-rom closing; and accordingly, in'illustration but notin "limitation of the invention, such" means is herein shownand willbelow bereferred to asan invisible slide A feature :of' theinventicmanilone'abovepassingly alluded to, is thatthe beltpor tion'ofthe'garment ispermanently "uninterrufitedly continuous around the waistof the wearerat the front and back regio'nsjof the waist. This 'featureis resent evenwhen, for girthw'ise expansion of the (garment at the waist portionthereof, to facilitate donning of thegarment when such waistportion isinelastic, witlisideor front openings as provided for in existingstyles.

The important concept of this invention is to provide a garment havingthe "seat-fullness characteristic of trousers, slacks and all bifurcatedgarments in the class hereinabove first mentioned, which is readily andexpeditiously openable and closable all along the line aforesaid,and yetwhich atth'e "lower "part of the seat portion of the "gar- Inent is ofuninterrupted continuity girthwis'ely of theigar'm'ent' whenelosed allalong said line.

" Thereby, a more easily washable garmentisprcvided, and one which maynot be accidentally severed into two parts during washing, particularlyin a power driven washing machine, and also one such that its parts maynot become entangled or otherwise so disposed as to make the task ofplacing the garment properly on the body 55 or children of the "wearerother than a Quick easy operation The purpose of lihe invention, inproviding a garment openabie ever the entirety er the icing line abovedescribedfis to allow the garment to remain securely on the body of thewearer yet to be temporarily op'enable a manner te permite sail-l efnature to be properly and safely responletl to. the garment "is worn bya male, and the need is "for urination, thesame opening is used, but inthis case, the garment need be opened only along said ii-ne at thefrontal portion of the garment. With a slide fastener serving theentiretynf lengthoi said opening,

theslider oif said fastenerpwlricrl withsaid opening fiiil'y closed,woril'd desirably beat the end of the opening, at the end thereof highn-p at the front of the garment 'need be moved/for the purpose last mentioned, =o1ily *overa "fraction of its "max'i mu'rn pessible extent oftravel.

Also by virtue of the fullness at the seatoi Ya garment o l thekmdtowhichthe invention is'applied, easy" handling of "a lowerimdergarment, as pull down pan-ties "or Fbioomers such as worn by womenor children, ismad epossiblejwithont"disturbance in anywayof the 'fullattachmen't of the garment-to the waist'o'fthe wearer.

, Among some or the further advantages of the new garment which may "behere mentioned, are

that trousers, siacks andthe like need net belowered, that rnen woiil-dnot have to remove their jackets, belts for suspenders in brder to heedthe call "of nature; that consequently the "cuffed or other {bottoms "ofthe leg 'portions'wodld not drape in folds against the hour of thecomfort "station, as 'one at a beach and 'nsualty having'a wet floor,that, therefore, the bottom's of the le'g'jp'ortion's would not becomedirtied orstained or absorb moisture for wrinkling and loss of one ortwo piece bathing'suits would not have to beremovedwhether they be'wetnrdry, causing great discomfort to the bather; thatin an emergency when acomfort station is not available, as in the countmfrelier may be had forwomen atjanysecluded spot, and andwithoutthe possibility ofembarrassment because the garment hashad-to be bodily lowered; anditha'talnecessity' for high-speed dressing, as

on aisudden alarm to soldiers, sailbra'jpol'icemen,

crease; thaft' 3 ence will be had to the following description andaccompanying drawings, and to the appended claim in which the variousnovel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view looking toward the front of a pair ofWomens slacks pursuant to the invention,

Fig. 2 is a similar view, looking toward the rear.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing a modification.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, further showing said modification. V

Referring to the drawing in detail, and first to Figs. 1 and 2, the pairof slacks shown is of the conventional type, having a pair of legportions HI with cuffs II, and a waist-belt portion l2.

The long opening aforesaid has one end at a' point M at the rear of thegarment and as high as the lower limit of the belt portion l2, and,thence continues uninterruptedly down along the back of the garment andthrough the crotch and up along the front of the garment to a point l5also as high as the lower limit of the belt portion Such opening, whichwill be called the opening 15, is openable and closable by a singleslide fastener Hi, the slider I! of which is at the point l5 when saidopening 14-45 is fully closed as illustrated.

The full seat portion of the garment is indicated at I8. H

For easy donning of the garment to result in good fit, when the beltportion I2 is inelastic throughout its length, the embodiment now beingdescribed is illustrated as having the belt portion l2 in separableparts as a result of providing two side openings l9, to be closed in anydesired way, as by means of buttons 20 and cooperant buttonholes.

The openings l9 have their bottoms, as in conventional in ordinaryslacks, located at such a level, in the vicinity of the maximum sideswell of the hips, that withthe slide fastener 18 fully closed as shown,the garment is girthwisely uninterruptedly continuous over the zonelying between the bottoms of the openings 19 and the joinder efiected atthe upper inner ends of the leg portions H by the closed side fastener,that r is, over a zone including the seat fullness l8.

Thus, despite the provision of the side openings IS, the one part of thegarment incorporating oneof the leg portions is not accidentallyseverable from the other part of the garment incorporating the other legportion "1 because these parts of the garment are connected together atthe top ends of the opening I l-45 by the uninterrupted formation of thebelt portion l2 at those top ends of the opening I4-l5.

Furthermore, since the long crotch-traversing opening l4--l5 is openedonly for the special purposesexplained, and then of course always afterthe garment has been donned, during such donning of the garment theoperation is the same as in'the case of an ordinary pair of trousers orslacks, V

On the other hand, whenever said opening I l-l5 is opened, the beltportion I2 is in effect an ,uninterruptedly continuous one all around 4the waist of the wearer. Washing, with the slide fastener 16 closing theopening l4l5, is as easy and safe as in the case of an ordinary pair ofslacks.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, here, there is shown the same pair of slacksas in Figs. 1 and 2, except that the side openings [9 are both omitted;the belt portion 2| is illustrated as having interposed therein, as atone point along its length, an elastic insert 22 stretchable along thelength of the belt portion; and the fastening means for the longcrotch-traversing opening is modified.

Said long opening, corresponding to the opening hi -l5, extends all theway down to, through and upward beyond the crotch, from a point I4, to apoint 24, corresponding to the point l5. Here a slide fastener 25 isshown as of such shorter length than the opening 23-24 that when theslider 26 of the fastener is at the point 2? the slide fastener 25 isfully closed. The remaining part of the opening 23-24, between thepoints 21 and 23, is illustrated as a fly opening attended on one sideby a line of buttons 28 and on its other side by cooperant button-holes29 on a strip 38 topped by a covering strip or fiap 3|.

While 1 have illustrated and described the preferred embodiments of myinvention, it is to beunderstood that I do not limit myself to theprecise constructions herein disclosed and the right is reserved to allchanges and modifications coming within the scope of the invention asdefined in the appended claim.

Having thus described my. invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by United States Letters Patent is:

A bifurcated garment of the class described having seat fullnesscharacteristic of trousers, slacks or the like, said garment having awaist belt portion, an opening traversing the crotch of the garment andterminating at the rear of the garment at a point below said beltportionand at the front of the garment at a point below said beltportion, said belt portion being uninterruptedly continuous acrosspoints on the garment vertically in line with the rear end of saidopening and vertically in line with the front end of said opening, meansfor closing said opening, said belt portion being interrupted to providethe same with free ends for meeting at one side of the garment, saidgarment having an opening in the said one side thereof in line with thefree ends of said belt portion, said last-named opening having itsbottom end located at a point higher on the garment than the lowestpointof the crotch ofthegarment, means detachably coupling the ends ofsaid belt portion, and means detachably joining the sides of saidlast-named opening.

' ESTELLE SLATER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

v UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,718,049 Jonas June 18, 19291,860,433 Roxenbaum May 31, 1932 1,868,741 Gassel July 26, 1932 ZapisJuly 18, 1939

